The revelation surfaced at a budget hearing of the County Legislature’s Transportation Committee two weeks after Brooks proposed her spending plan and denied knowing of any new service charges to taxpayers, also called “chargebacks.”

“I don’t believe there are any new chargebacks,” Brooks told reporters during a news conference at the time.

County Finance Director Scott Adair made clear under questioning in legislative chambers, however, that the budget seeks for the first time to charge property owners separately for removing snow and ice from the roughly 660 miles of county roads, all of which are outside the city of Rochester.

The service, which is performed by towns and villages through a contract with the county, is currently paid for through the county tax levy.

Chargebacks, which appear on tax bills under a line of “County Services – Localities,” pay for myriad county services, including firefighter training, elections support and the county’s hefty subsidy to Monroe Community College, to name a few.

While Brooks has touted her record of keeping the county property tax rate flat at $8.99 per $1,000 of assessed value as her signature achievement, her administration’s reliance on chargebacks to pay for services previously financed through property taxes has climbed dramatically.

The practice has been harshly criticized by Democratic legislators, who argue that chargebacks, which are permissible under state law, are essentially concealed tax hikes.

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In a pointed exchange during committee questioning, Adair took exception to Democratic Legislator Josh Bauroth’s characterization of the charge as a new tax.

“It is a fee for services,” Adair said. “It is not a tax.”

Bauroth, who represents parts of Brighton and Henrietta, retorted: “It’s a difficult distinction to make when you get your (tax) bill in the mail.”

County officials acknowledged later in interviews that the proposed budget seeks to raise between $38 million and $40 million through charges for county services that are outside the property tax levy but are shouldered by property owners through their tax bills.

That represents an increase in chargebacks of 17 to 23 percent over the current year.

To put the charges into perspective, though, they represent less that 3.5 percent of the county $1.2 billion budget.

During a news conference on Nov. 13, moments after she gave a brief outline of her proposed budget to legislators, Brooks was asked whether the spending plan contained any increases in chargebacks.

She initially replied that she was not aware of any new chargebacks.

Then, after a reporter interjected seeking clarification whether any chargebacks would increase, Brooks acknowledged that the chargeback for MCC, which represents by far the largest proportion of the county’s chargebacks, would rise by $500,000 to roughly $18.4 million.

Brooks made no mention of the snow removal charge, or of another new chargeback for the roughly $750,000 the county spends each year subsidizing the funeral arrangements of poor people.

That indigent burial chargeback, which county executive aides acknowledged in an interview late Tuesday, will likely mostly be shouldered by property owners in Rochester, where an outsized share of residents receive burial assistance.

County spokesman Justin Feasel said Brooks was not attempting to mislead with her answer, but rather trying to synthesize the scope of a 790-page budget plan that had been released only minutes earlier.

“She felt she was answering the question truthfully with the information she had,” Feasel said.

Democratic Legislator Paul Haney, of Rochester, who has been one of the most vocal critics of the increased use of chargebacks, doubted that the county executive was being forthright.

“They tried to conceal it,” Haney said. “And when they say there are no property tax increases, that’s a bald-faced lie.”